Deepen Your Leatherworking Practice and Make Even Your Simplest Creations Stand Out
When I first started Fine Leatherworking, I posted an image of what I thought was the best example of skilled leatherworking technique. Over seven years later, it’s still one of the most referenced and viral posts that we’ve shared. Mr. Niwa’s famous ‘rainbow’ edge has inspired many a leatherworker to improve their work, especially their edge finishing. It was that particular piece that inspired me to reach out to him all those years ago.
One thing that many people don’t realize is that the key to creating this quality of a finish starts way before the final edging work. Mr. Niwa recently said to me, “I have been asked the same question by many foreign leather crafters ‘How did you get such edges?’ As you know, we can’t get beautiful edges just by finishing.”
The basic core skills of sharpening, cutting, gluing are as important if not more important than the final finish. It’s the same advice given in Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.”
Anyone who has taken one of our courses will have experienced the same methodology. Little by little, we help you to improve your leatherworking technique so that by the end of the course, you have a solid foundation of your own to work with. Before the class starts, students often wonder, ‘how hard can it really be to cut leather? Isn’t it pretty much the same after a while?’ It’s only when they start to explore the subtle variations and improve that they realize how detailed of a practice it is and how deep you can go with even a simple skill like cutting.
In my time with Mr. Niwa, I’ve come to better understand why he focuses on depth over breadth of technique. It creates work that has such quality that it jumps out at you. You can easily see the difference in photos (and even more so in person) how a simple but flawlessly-executed piece can really stand out. If you’re ready to focus on deepening your technique and taking your leatherworking skills to the next level, then our next course with Mr. Niwa will be perfect for you.
Refine Your Leathercrafting Technique
Join us for Refining Your Leathercrafting Technique With Hajime Niwa, a three-day course for students looking to add depth in technique and design to their work. In this course, we will focus on his unique style of crafting leather goods, including:
- The fundamental techniques that makes his work stand out.
- Combine all of the techniques you learn into making a well-crafted card wallet.
- How to properly sharpen your tools and make better cuts.
- The subtleties of how he prepares and cuts his leather.
- Hand-planing uses in leatherworking and of course,
- His detailed process of finishing edges to perfection.
PLUS: One thing that many past students requested was a way to continue their learning after the course. So, this time around, we are adding an online component to the course. As part of the premier level of the course, you’ll get access to all of the material covered in-person in the form of an online class that you can come back to at any time and that you can keep forever.
AND MORE: In addition to refining your technique, we’ll also be focused on how to better prepare your tools. To supplement that work, we’re excited to be offering a collection of tools and supplies that Mr. Niwa’s recommends for his own students in Japan. When you register for the course, sign-up to get access to the supply kit and you’ll get a set of your own to take home with you.
Dates & Locations
This is a THREE-day, all-day workshop. The sessions are as follows:
Oakland, California
Session One – Friday, November 8th through Sunday, November 10th.SOLD OUTSession Two – Monday, November 11th through Wednesday, November 13th.SOLD OUT[newly added] Session Three – Friday November 15th through Sunday 17thSOLD OUT
Sign up here to be notified of openings and the upcoming online course.
Take the course in our upcoming new studio in the Temescal District of Oakland. About a 10 minute walk from the Macarthur Bart Station.
Course Options
We’re offering a three-day course to maximize your time with this special teacher. Choose the additional online course so you can review the techniques again and again. We’ll soon be adding tool package to take home a collection of the same tools that Niwa uses to produce his work. We’ll notify students when it become available.
1. Three-Day Course with Online Supplemental Course
- THREE 8-hour days of in-person detailed instruction
- Complete an entire bespoke project in one session
- Time to learn Niwa Leather’s style of leathercraft and refine your own technique
- Examples of multiple techniques for you to try in several areas such as skiving, sharpening, and construction.
- All materials, including leather
- An opportunity to try out a wide variety of our tools including the electric creaser and our newest products
- Construction tips, techniques, and best practices to refine the quality of your work
- A supplemental online course so you can review and re-review the course material.
- Access to updates and expansions to the online Niwa course.
- Support and follow-up questions for the online course with Mr. Niwa.
This course is sold out
Sign up here to be notified of openings and the upcoming online course.
2. Three-Day Course
- THREE 8-hour days of in-person detailed instruction
- Complete an entire bespoke project in one session
- Time to learn Niwa Leather’s style of leathercraft and refine your own technique
- Examples of multiple techniques for you to try in several areas such as skiving, sharpening, and construction.
- All materials, including leather
- An opportunity to try out a wide variety of our tools including the electric creaser and our newest products
- Construction tips, techniques, and best practices to refine the quality of your work
A supplemental online course so you can review and re-review the course material.Access to updates and expansions to the online Niwa course.Support and follow-up questions for the online course with Mr. Niwa.
This course is sold out
Sign up here to be notified of openings and the upcoming online course.
Practice At Your Level
One common question I get is, “how advanced is this course?” We spend a lot of time refining the project and the techniques for the course so that we can accommodate multiple levels. When someone is more advanced, we help them with a more complex project and when they are more beginner level, we help them with their fundamentals.
We will meet you where you are in your experience and tailor your project to maximize your learning. That can mean:
- focusing on the minute details of skiving leather by hand for the first time with a real knife or
- fine-tuning your sewing with thread choice, tension and stitch count or
- stepping back to improve your overall construction sequence so that your cuts and measurements stay accurate and consistent with each production piece.
Before the course even starts, we’ll get to know you and your current level of experience to make sure the course is the right balance for you. If you are unsure of your skill level or would like some help in discussing your options, feel free to email us or call us at 1-415-800-2978.
Tailoring our classes for where you are in your level and location
More time in class, access to a specialized space and tools. These are just a few of the benefits we provide to better help you learn leatherworking. We also travel around the country to make these classes more accessible for you to take.
Project Example
Instead of building an elaborate project, we’ll start small so that you can focus on the details.
Benefits of a Live Fine Leatherworking Course
Our instruction is more than just watch and learn. We approach teaching as a give and take between the course objectives and what each student needs. For instance, we’ll provide a simpler or a more challenging version of a project so that a student can improve from their current level rather than over-extending or breezing through instruction.
A Blend of Traditional and Modern Techniques
Fine Leatherworking courses provide expert instruction that is founded on traditional techniques and improved with modern updates. We take into account the wider range of tools, improved materials and different starting point of our students. Traditionally, an aspiring leatherworker would start an apprenticeship at a young age and have years to improve their work before embarking on a professional career. Today, few people have the opportunity to do this kind of approach.
Time and experience are still required investments to improve in this craft. We develop our techniques to maximize that time so that you have the potential to learn in weeks and months rather than years and decades.
Who this workshop is for
As with every offering at Fine Leatherworking, we want to make sure we’re matching the right people to the right solution for them. You should NOT join this workshop if you are:
‘Grazing’ on techniques. We don’t offer a scattershot of information and hope something sticks. Sometimes it’s tempting to sample a few exercises and then not really improve. In this workshop we’re going to dive really deep on a few aspects of leatherworking in order to really improve your craft.
Looking for a short sprint. This is a long workshop and I’ll be honest, last time we did it a few people started to fade at the end. Our revised format gives you a bit more of a break but we aim to accomplish a lot in the course of five days. I will be there to support you all the way, but it’s going to require a bit of focus and stamina.
Want just the executive summary. If you’re looking for a silver bullet solution that requires no hard work or practice, this workshop may not be for you. Learning how to create world class leather goods will take time and patience.
Explore the Bay Area and Stay Near the Workshop
There are several hotel and AirBNB options in the East Bay. We can help you find one that is close to the workshop and fitting of your needs.
If you have extra time, there are also many other leatherworking-related places to check out in the area as well as the variety of attractions like Napa Valley and San Francisco.
Go Deep on Leatherworking Technique
Join the course and learn from one of the best leather goods maker working today.
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